After some heated internal debate, I have decided to create a sister (or brother, if you wish) location of
Travels Down I-85 here at SC4Devotion. Briefly, on the original thread over at Simtropolis, I made a brief rant about the state of CJing over at ST:
QuoteBasically this seems not to be the best CJing climate for a realism-based CJ. I have no idea if this is a Cjing drought, per se, or a shift in the CJing medium as a whole from realism to the pursuit of other goals.
Of course, it would be rather hypocritical to complain about that yet pack my bags and sail across the Atlantic Ocean towards the metaphoric New World. Ergo, I will be for the moment putting the same content here and on ST. Of course, that could always change, but it's best not to make plans for the distant future.
On creating a second location here, I want to reference the following quote over at 3RR:
Quote from: Zaphod on March 22, 2007, 09:48:15 PM
I like that youve got your cj in some form or other on ST as well as here. If anything It might entice people to visit this place... I decided to do my cj on both sites at the same time. There are enough people who only visit one or the other regularly enough, so you by doing it on both your only increasing the number of potential viewers...
Which sounds like a good plan. It might take more time per update, but you get your stuff out to a wider range of people. There look like some great, very serious, and very experienced players and
CJers...
...uh, how am I going to say this - MDers, perhaps...?
...here.
It happens that I've picked a good starting point to create this second home for Travels Down I-85. Yesterday I posted an update consisting exclusively of Hand Drawn Maps (link) (http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=85129&enterthread=y&STARTPAGE=7) of an entirely new section of the region.
Now, because this means, in essence, that we will be starting at update #13, some backstory would be appropriate to answer the question, "Why does this CJ exist in the first place?"
Originally posted on 12.29.2006QuoteA teaser here, there... but never did I begin this journal until now.
Simply enough, I plan to create a journal that documents the creation of a fictitious metropolitan area – the Graham-Wellington MSA – in the North Carolina Piedmont. In my creation there is going to be a LOT of roadgeekery – hopefully more than my previous two city journals.
I am drawing inspiration from both my current home of Charlotte, its outlying bedroom communities (such as Gastonia and Kannapolis), and other Piedmont cities (such as Winston-Salem).
The first twelve updates, which are viewable Here (link) (http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=85129&STARTPAGE=1&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear), concern themselves with a medium-sized city in North Carolina called Graham. Upon creating the city, I was informed (by ST member Ginchael) that there is a real city on the I-85 corridor around the Piedmont Triad area called Graham:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg133.imageshack.us%2Fimg133%2F3130%2Fmapofgrahamnccz4.jpg&hash=6cd9f5fdaff99223880b28b877320cec9b14b149)
However, this city of Graham is not the same Graham as exists in RL.
In the spirit of not excluding the SC4D community from participating, the first couple updates are going to be a brief "best of" of the first twelve updates.
Hope this is successful and see you around SC4D
-aaron
This is truly a pleasure to be the first to comment in your great CJ/MD over here at SC4D, my friend.
Great words from you, a great start- big things to come, I'm sure.
Good Luck!
David
Even with a profound philosophical statement on the nature of MDing, a Mayor's Diary really serves no purpose without any pictures.
And with that we'll begin our look at our Readers Digest of the first twelve updates: the Best of Travels Down I-85
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg46.imageshack.us%2Fimg46%2F8599%2Fintrobestofno4.jpg&hash=30655b6c6c6263aa9200929577549b55f0652a07)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg167.imageshack.us%2Fimg167%2F5630%2Fintroaj9.jpg&hash=8f08c3ddc29a5d8f8c035cacdec64b6f2b73ea16)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg46.imageshack.us%2Fimg46%2F3526%2Fintrobestof1ht6.jpg&hash=b2a6bd09e073f4b353f85d304eaad121f71c2827)
Basically, this first time around, we'll be looking at the growth of the region through region pics taken as the MD progresses. In the name of getting y'all caught up, I'll provide some semi-informative analysis on how each picture fits into the grand scheme of things.
This was the first region pic in the original CJ:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg175.imageshack.us%2Fimg175%2F4885%2F0bbv9.jpg&hash=15d5ba070fd677e7b5a778326a91b5b83f8e6fa7)
As you can see, this was the city of Graham before the Federal Government went and constructed I-85.
Please note the presence of a CR-107 (CR stands for county route, which in the United States is generally represented by a blue pentagon). This route eventualyl gets changed to CR-300 because of conflicts with a North Carolina route 107.
From update 2
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg401.imageshack.us%2Fimg401%2F2916%2Fregion2rp2.jpg&hash=6fdf54f8661993705f38923aa1ae32c8b284170b)
I-85 has been built. The grid pattern gets broken around the area of the highway, representing the change to suburban sprawl.
From update 6
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg253.imageshack.us%2Fimg253%2F9082%2F6map6mo.jpg&hash=bd778e17d850d3fba09e709fc45ade63ad3a80b5)
A homebrew map showing an area south of downtown Graham. YOu can see the aformentioned NC-107...
From Update 7
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg444.imageshack.us%2Fimg444%2F1381%2F7arr0.jpg&hash=4a8df1683293f1414bcc188b40b16aa93f858312)
Distinctly suburban areas surround distinctly urban areas...
From around update 10
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg253.imageshack.us%2Fimg253%2F9929%2F10regionsatlp0.jpg&hash=318f9a3724034257f445d59ded2045ecce285514)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg79.imageshack.us%2Fimg79%2F6862%2F10regionmapfc5.jpg&hash=58add6095705818d1052d44ca57474f3bdd3b6a5)
From update 12
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg341.imageshack.us%2Fimg341%2F268%2F12rzp1.jpg&hash=80999bbf863a8e787ae96b1a568a847dc04486ed)
This is Graham at the moment...
I'll probably get the next Best Of section assembled by tonight or tomorrow. If you wish to see the entire thing in context, visit this link (http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=85129&STARTPAGE=1&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear).
-aaron
I like your style, Aaron. :) Can't wait to see you show us more here.
Hey Aaron, haven't caught up with Travles down 1-85 for a while...
But so far it is looking great! The region views are mouth watering... It is very realistic and It looks like a real satellite photo...
I am looking forward to what the region will look like once the whole thing is developed...
Also, I know you are not a fan of rail, but is there any in this region?
Because I love rail... &apls
Looking great, Aaron! I lurked for a while in your CJ over at ST, but now I figured I let you know that it's looking great! I love the maps and the regions shots. I can't wait to see some more, my friend!
Take care,
Dustin
hello aaron! nice to see the region as it grows! very good sense of realism. will be driving through your I-85. see you around!
Great that you decided to post here... I was reading your CJ at ST yesterday but at the time I finished and wanted to leave a comment the site went down... So be told now: your CJ/MD is worth going thru all the pages: your region views, the maps you add and the roads that you lay are a pleasure to the eye &apls and very inspiring!
Thenk you, everyone, for the comments. I'll reply to them after the "Best Of" is finished.
This time, we'll look at the best pictures from the currently largest city in the Graham-Wellington MSA, in which this MD is situated - Graham.
As with the previous update, pictures are arranged in chronological order.
You will notice that this update is completely devoid of highway-area pictures, yet this CJ is named after the najor interstate that goes through this region. That's because I'm giving highway pictures their own best-of update...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg46.imageshack.us%2Fimg46%2F8599%2Fintrobestofno4.jpg&hash=30655b6c6c6263aa9200929577549b55f0652a07)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg167.imageshack.us%2Fimg167%2F5630%2Fintroaj9.jpg&hash=8f08c3ddc29a5d8f8c035cacdec64b6f2b73ea16)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg65.imageshack.us%2Fimg65%2F7746%2Fintrobestof2be9.jpg&hash=d86942cc000a3896fa12c65c5e3178a80119577f)
From update 1:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg215.imageshack.us%2Fimg215%2F8359%2F1bxh9.jpg&hash=855a9d5f7822e7855fcc660e0057c1e726271748)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg143.imageshack.us%2Fimg143%2F2221%2F1drb2.jpg&hash=3ff3effc48f138a46173cdea9f7fcd04bfffc149)
From update 2
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg365.imageshack.us%2Fimg365%2F4797%2F2bsb0.jpg&hash=bf87babe36dcb36e97832b4804d2b36af5dd2d18)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg365.imageshack.us%2Fimg365%2F4090%2F2cjj8.jpg&hash=c20868f5a18dccda4fed5699fe490b996fd1cdae)
From update 3
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg154.imageshack.us%2Fimg154%2F9423%2F3evy9.jpg&hash=e7e0a7550f2a6f9ed36cbf3b06ead659177b945e)
From update 5
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg180.imageshack.us%2Fimg180%2F9253%2F5anf2.jpg&hash=bfdd47c375c03be535a8da4a6a48aec37b52d713)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg180.imageshack.us%2Fimg180%2F9673%2F5dpx3.jpg&hash=b2bfa16b067379b38c7725650e0746a9bc6d36c8)
From Update 6
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg120.imageshack.us%2Fimg120%2F9508%2F6a2zf.jpg&hash=d7f454ec48282f05a7481cc9b5841d3e755d321d)
From Update 7
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg182.imageshack.us%2Fimg182%2F6403%2F7bcp1.jpg&hash=db4d73cebe3b2dc5fd7327128b353124ad7c3918)
From Update 10
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg95.imageshack.us%2Fimg95%2F9931%2F10bgx1.jpg&hash=7a618cded4513e756f50fb27181774f44107f531)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg410.imageshack.us%2Fimg410%2F6432%2F10dlw5.jpg&hash=4d953c828e0e06293e4f0c86f86f2b70baa2e6aa)
From Update 12
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg110.imageshack.us%2Fimg110%2F4351%2F12cpt6.jpg&hash=963277377bf8ab6b69e3b2c1d15941d260bfa68d)
-aaron
Nothing to say here this time.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg46.imageshack.us%2Fimg46%2F8599%2Fintrobestofno4.jpg&hash=30655b6c6c6263aa9200929577549b55f0652a07)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg167.imageshack.us%2Fimg167%2F5630%2Fintroaj9.jpg&hash=8f08c3ddc29a5d8f8c035cacdec64b6f2b73ea16)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg391.imageshack.us%2Fimg391%2F9697%2Fintrobestof3eq7.jpg&hash=c65f73e9eda87be5fad2faf925fa5bec09b3580e)
From Update 3
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg154.imageshack.us%2Fimg154%2F6173%2F3bdh3.jpg&hash=6a24fdd0f4b5e4b78354b8671b0754201c035f76)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg382.imageshack.us%2Fimg382%2F1376%2F3dmx4.jpg&hash=bc08e46620d110d207b4f02401d80c4462445040)
From Update 4:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg169.imageshack.us%2Fimg169%2F9529%2F4cda1.jpg&hash=c4ac0d962e70ebe6105af0bc4c5cb55a8901c81a)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg398.imageshack.us%2Fimg398%2F7927%2F4ftg2.jpg&hash=038dc1df4cf2be727f7f75e68790bee840d27eab)
From Update 8
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg144.imageshack.us%2Fimg144%2F7651%2F8ajq4.jpg&hash=9b79bf7f97b3ae865f8ccb6ec2776a544571e9a5)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg45.imageshack.us%2Fimg45%2F2328%2F8coz0.jpg&hash=a2d1ab963f5fd0145b8411d4e2e0337e805e56de)
From Update 9
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg79.imageshack.us%2Fimg79%2F5888%2F9cue5.jpg&hash=0e57c221a9f13340d218d79ffef56019ba79c1a1)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg409.imageshack.us%2Fimg409%2F3238%2F9dxw5.jpg&hash=216f2b53fd9ad8c5dd496204fcc48499a3d17448)
From Update 11
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg223.imageshack.us%2Fimg223%2F1892%2F11ahn7.jpg&hash=8974778dd4b169e99de7ea07ac6182e25285fae2)
With this, we can begin the new stuff in a few days or so. I'll be on hiatus for a couple weeks in April around Spring Break - I'll be going up to Rhode Island and will probably have no access to the Internet unless I find myself at Panera Bread.
-aaron
Aaron,
Wow im totaly shocked by my drive threw here tonight i do have to say its a wonderful county,
looking forward to coming back soon - pat
This is going to be really cool to follow. A distinctly classic look with an extremly intricate transit network. I like it. :thumbsup:
Aaron, wow. I love suburban paradises (paradii? ;)) and yours are very well done indeed. Moreover, you have a unique style of presentation which really adds to things. :thumbsup:
One query: In the last pic there, the large building in the top right-hand corner ... what is it?
David (dedgren) Thanks for being the first one to comment. We'll see about whether great things indeed come. I'm hoping so as well.
Flipside - It's always great to see faces whom I don't recall from ST - it makes it seem as if I'm doing this for a purpose. Thanks for commenting!
Owen (Owen Luby) - When you speak of rail, are you looking for stuff like this...?
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg339.imageshack.us%2Fimg339%2F1479%2F12railgj1.jpg&hash=f0012df561a5acaf25c1e73744b18265a5d312d0)
For the record, that is a piece of rail traveling through an industrial park outside of Germania. There are rail lines all over the place in the South, especially those dedicated to freight, but I've so far kept rail in moderation in Graham.
zniehadajet - Hope to see you around both Travels Down I-85 as well as the rest of SC4D.
sebes - I understand what you are saying about ST - Many a potential post has gone down the drain due to that Jrun Server Error or whatever it's called. I eventually ended up writing all my longer posts in MS Word so if such an error came, I could try a second time. Thanks for commenting!
Pat (patfirefghtr) - Hey, thanks. As with everyone else, I hope to see you around SC4D.
Emilin - I've read through quite a number of quality CJs over here but haven't seen any roadgeek ones - or any that focus on a road network. So I guess I carved my niche there. Thanks!
Flipside - Actually, I don't know what the plural of paradise is, but it could be paradii. But then, the plural of circus isn't circi, but circuses...
...If you've ever been to Central North Carolina, which is the focus of this CJ, you'd notice that there are very few row homes or apartment homes surrounding the downtown, like most Northern or European cities. Immediately after you leave downtown, you enter suburban neighborhoods with quarter-acre lots (though in Charlotte, that's changing...) So that's what I'm trying to recreate.
I think the building you want is the NDEX Greystone Church (link) (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=13143). Rather fitting for a Southern-themed CJ...
Simcity has crashed to the desktop twice in the past two days at seemingly random intervals - making this the first time while working on this region, so the picture that's in my reply to Owen's comment is the ony picture I have shot in the past week. But there's one last update of already-made stuff that we need to get through.
Eariler in this CJ, I said:
QuoteIt happens that I've picked a good starting point to create this second home for Travels Down I-85. Yesterday I posted an update consisting exclusively of Hand-drawn Maps of an entirely new section of the region.
So we'll look at those maps. All text below is copied directly from the original update, with minor adjustments.
If one travels west on NC-41, passing through Graham and its suburbs, one will eventually find the small town of Germania. About the same size as Needham (a small town of 7,000 that we skipped over here at SC4D), Germania is overall in better condition. The downtown, though eaten up by neglect, still is home to a few businesses, both of essential and trendy varieties - the espresso bar that plays a constant soundtrack of experimental post-rock from the Montreal area is situated right near the independently-owned drugstore, which is amazingly still in business despite competition from an Eckerd two blocks away.
After NC-41 travels through downtown, it meets US-174, at that moment a four-lane divided highway surrounded by (relatively) older commercial sprawl development:
NC-41 is the up-and-down two lane highway.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg258.imageshack.us%2Fimg258%2F2863%2Fmap1wg3.jpg&hash=47364e97c869106646ff75e06b2bd39993ff84f3)
To end this brief preliminary tour of Germania, here is a rough map of the street network of Germania:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg128.imageshack.us%2Fimg128%2F1017%2Fmap2jb8.jpg&hash=f30f148702385e414b6bfa990b0eca5f7aed9b48)
Remember - this is a rough map of the streets and roads of Germania - and thus, I have the right to change it however I want to (which I since have).
You may be looking at the box in the top-right corner that says:
Travels Down I-85
Planning Map #3
Germania
and wondering, "where in the hell are map #1 and map # 2?" To answer, simply, map #1 is in the opening post of this CJ and has a rough sketch of the roads of Graham. Map #2 is titled "Oilton/Germania" and covers the area directly south of map #3., where I-85 and US- 174 meet. As I'm not going to build that area yet, we'll save that map for a few updates down.
-aaron
Aaron-
I love the paper maps. I used to draw huge freeway interchanges (9 or 10 divided highways converging on the same point). Used to have a whole sheaf of them- I've misplaced it along the way but will keep my eye out...
I-85 appears to have immediately attracted the following that I expected. Everytime I've buzzed through here in the past little bit you've had folks looking at it.
Have a great day- watching for more!
David
The handwritten maps are just awesome.. so much detail in it :thumbsup: I cannot wait how this will look in "RL" after you did your thing in the game!
I love the hand-drawn maps, Aaron. I've done a few of those myself, but always ended up throwing them out in disgust! You, however, have been able to take your vision and transplant it into the game! Great job!
Quotezniehadajet - Hope to see you around both Travels Down I-85 as well as the rest of SC4D.
amen to that, my man. i try to visit all the MDs i can in a day and yours has been a treat. your dedication with the hand drawn maps and careful planning have got me hooked. in my brief experiences with suburbs in the States, i believe your MD is realistic... and that's good. would love to see more. hope you get internet access during the break. see you around
Pickled those hand drawn maps are awsome i so like them, great work looking forward to coming back soon - pat
wonderful regions and great maps! Also fantastic pictures and great work! :thumbsup: &apls
Hey everyone:
I'm going off to Rhode Island for the week on the 2nd of April. Until then, I'd like to cram as many updates as possible into the next three days. I'm betting I won't have computer access up there, and as said earlier...
QuoteI'll be going up to Rhode Island and will probably have no access to the Internet unless I find myself at Panera Bread.
...even if I do have a computer there's no chance of me having Internet access unless I find myself anywhere where there's free wi-fi - Panera was the first place that comes to mind, probably because it's very close to where I'll be in RI.
I'll probably put up some stuff here, be it more hand-drawn maps, mosaics - who knows - that's going to be exclusive to the SC4D version of the journal tomorrow.
David (dedgren) - If you ever get hold of those hand-drawn maps I'd love to see them potentially at 3RR or anywhere else.
It's always great seeing you stop by.
On a side note, I said this over at my comment at 3RR, but I might say it again: I've changed my mind and am now interested in developing a quad, if it's still possible.
Sebes - Look no farther than this update for that. Thanks for dropping by here,
Thundercrack83 - Prehaps it could be because I've been drawing these maps for at least ten years now. Though the first eight years of maps were very unrealistic and quite horrific, I stayed with it and developed the craft into what it is now. Thanks!
Heinz - As for Internet access over the break, as I said prior, probably not, but if I do, I'll certainly make my rounds through the MDs. Thanks for visiting.
Pat - Thanks and I'll hope to see you soon also!
bat - Thank you!
Anyway, here's the next update:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg102.imageshack.us%2Fimg102%2F9216%2F13ajpgya5.jpg&hash=84d65505608c1508efdb0676f4df450b4a0b7f66)
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See you soon
-aaron
fantastic work and great pictures!! :thumbsup:
seeing you around the MDs would be nice. great update my man. incredible dedication to your plans for development. enjoy your vacation
What... no stars yet?
We'll fix that...
...rummages around and picks out 5 nice big ones...
There you go, my friend.
I'm pretty jet-lag bleary to make any detailed comments at this point (it's 4:45 a.m. in Texas and I've been awake since 2) on the last update, but it looks great. I'll get back around in a bit.
David
Hey!
I just had to comment on those winding roads! I love 'em! Oh, and those suburbs look just like one near by, except the trees are a bit greener! ;)
Cheers.
Germania looks fantastic. I love how you transferred your vision from the hand-drawn maps to the game, absolutely stunning! Great update, my friend!
Hey everyone - I'll get to your comments sometime before I leave monday.
Though I will take this moment to thank David for those five stars now hanging to the right of this topic in the MD section. Stuff like that really makes this MD appear more established into the SC4D patchwork...
As I may or may not have said in an earlier post, this MD is of the Graham-Wellington MSA - where Graham is a small sity of 110,000 and Wellington is its larger cousin, a banking and industrial hub of around 400,000. So far we have only seen Graham and some outlying rural towns - Needham (unfortunately, you've got to see ST for Needham) and Germania.
Today you are going to get your first glimpse of Wellington.
First of all, here is Wellington in relationship to the Graham area:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg83.imageshack.us%2Fimg83%2F8092%2F14ajp3.jpg&hash=17c1918456b79088934d6af364d9a9d97b5cf070)
As you can see, the two cities aren't terribly distant. It would probably be around thirteen or fourteen miles from downtown Wellington to downtown Graham, if not fewer.
Finally, two shots of Wellington's downtown grid area:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg249.imageshack.us%2Fimg249%2F1152%2F14bel6.jpg&hash=b0b1db60d66dc6855990ea40650970e2a0bc3bef)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg150.imageshack.us%2Fimg150%2F7200%2F14ctw5.jpg&hash=dca687f03072946d0b06b388b425c25ad85ff03d)
Nothing spectacular, but it sets the stage for some future development. Future development in Travels Down I-85 is probably going to start at Downtown Wellington and work its way back up the I-85 corridor towards Oilton (more on Oilton when the appropriate time comes) and Graham.
The plan is, hopefully, to have suburban sprawl almost all the way down the I-85 corridor between Wellington and Graham, with a couple gaps here and there.
Speaking of I-85, I'm going to be on the real I-85 corridor from Petersburg, VA to Charlotte, NC next week. Part of our plan is that we are driving back from Rhode Island. If I'm lucky I might be able to snap some good photos and present you with a couple of updates of pure roadgeekiness.
-aaron
Great update :thumbsup: It's great how you are building up an entire region not starting with the largest city! Enjoy your break !
The grid for Wellington looks great so far, I can't wait to see when you start developing it. Also, I'll be looking forward to some of the pictures you can snap on your way from Petersburg to Charlotte. Have a good trip, my friend!
Bat - Thanks for your comment!
Heinz - Thanks for wishing me a good vacation. Right now, it's a lot of stress because we're trying to determine what's happening on each day... one day's bound to be college visits, one day's bound to be visiting relatives, we have to go to IKEA on another day, so on.
David - I think all was cleared in the last post. I'll be waiting to see what you have to say regarding those changes to the MD section.
Chocolatemax - Ah... another ST transplant's come over to SC4D!
...reminds me, I have to transfer the update 13 stuff over to ST - someday...
Thanks for visiting!
thundercrack83 - Thanks! Actually, the drive is from North Kingstown, RI to Charlotte NC:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg116.imageshack.us%2Fimg116%2F5369%2F14ejj9.jpg&hash=b54944d981687ceafffc422c6801fdb46941d195)
Though the route we take is rather different than the route Google Maps suggests.
But the Petersburg to Charlotte part is all on I-85 (as I must have previously said) - making it relevant to this MD. You probably figured that out, but it doesn't hurt to clarify.
Sebes - Thanks!
Anyway, I figured it would be nice to present you with another teaser of a developed Germania. As you can see, I am experimenting with creating a realistic inner city area:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg410.imageshack.us%2Fimg410%2F8783%2F14dwz5.jpg&hash=47b19acfd1c8a1634aa0a40a9b0f4a3d7b758e78)
I'll be back next Monday. Until then
-aaron
Great stuff pp. I used to live in Franklin NC (in the mountains) so I have travelled i-85 a few times myself.
---Gaston
Just like a cracking plant- spread some flowers outside the fence and pretend everything smells just fine.
...I used to live in Petersburg- think I told you that once. I-85 terminated at I-95 about a half-mile from my house.
The teaser just made me hungry for more...
David
Great teaser, Aaron! And thanks for that shot of your route from Rhode Island to Charlotte. That kind of stuff fascinates me like you wouldn't believe. I'll be looking forward to the next update!
teasing teaser my friend. really hope you enjoy your visit. hope it goes well and that you get there and back here to MDing safe and sound.
I came back from Rhode Island on Sunday night,and since then, I've attempted to be active here on SC4D...
...but there is also something called RL.
No pictures from the trip down South, but I did manage, though purely from luck, to make a stop a few miles from the real Graham, North Carolina, at which I got a bottle of water at an Eckerd: a bottle from which I am still drinking.
Amazing. Revelatory. Whatever.
I see that David has taken the liberty of filing this MD into the "classics" section, which comes to me as a pleasant surprise. Though I still find the categorizing pigeonholing, I won't go down that path.
Gaston - Franklin? I was down by that area on a vacation in 2000 to the Smokies. Don't remember it much, though, except that as soon as you got out of the park (be it on the NC or TN side) it was all tourist-trap sprawl. Thanks for commenting.
David - Yeah, you did tell me that. Which I thought of when we went through Petersburg and connected to I-85 from I-95.
You are right - the people traveling the highway (NC-117, for those keeping score) do need something pleasant at which to look...
Thundercrack83 - Thanks!
Heinz - Thanks, I'll probably be back to actually MDing tomorrow.
Tomorrow, I'll end up giving you the tail end of update 14 (though the past 2 sets of pics have no numbers, they are stored in the "update 14" subfolder of my "travels down i-85" folder) with some shots of the interchanges of Wellington. Currently, I have laid out most of downtown (uptown?) Wellington and have built most of a middle class residential neighborhood I plan to call "The Park". As some random trivia, the main arterial road that travels through The Park is simply called "Avenue". Nothing more. If you go down I-95 south, you will see two exits (one in New Haven CT and one in Richmond VA) for streets simply called "Boulevard" - I decided to let Wellington have its own simply-named street.
-aaron
Aaron what a great many updates i see that i missed and man wow loved the google map
and cant wait for tomorrow upsdate - pat
I've always enjoyed this MD, and the past update featuring the development in Wellington is one of the real reasons I like it- the look and feel are perfect.
Great work!
I should obviously follow this closer. I missed several updates here. You are doing an extremly well done job with the network. Those region shots are mindblowing! I minght not be quite as enthusiastic about building such realistic transit sollutions myself, but I sure do appriciate to see the master in action.
&apls
Yeah, we're still alive down here.
I'm going to keep it simple this time around. Just a few pictures of Wellington to keep things running smoothly. I did promise interchange pictures, and I've made sure to deliver with 14.7.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg128.imageshack.us%2Fimg128%2F3642%2F14fxn9.jpg&hash=bf6ddf292a6f02e2e582a033feaf71d3bf8b0cfa)
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-aaron
WOW! beautiful update, great work on the transportation networks! looking forward to more! :thumbsup:
nice update! the only suggestion i have is to get the 'no one way road arrows' mod, (sorry, those arrows just bug me :P )
Edit: One more thing, I plan on BATting some Industrial Sprawl (the large warehouse like structures that are actually full manufacturing plants). I believe that such buildings would fit quite well into your CJ ;)
...P.S. they're gonna be scaled...and they're gonna have to be huge.. &mmm
Aaron awesome update and very intriguing interchange wow talk about intense Great job - Pat
meinhosen - Thanks! We're going to see a LOT more of Wellington as the city grows and eventually develops into a hopefully cosmopolitan yet still representative of the endless sprawl on the I-85 corridor.
emilin - Yeah thanks! I'mtrying to model the network of Wellington on various NC Piedmont cities that I've been to, as well as other Southern cities I've viewed on Google Earth. I was just looking at Augusta GA (at Frankie's reference to it in his MD) recently, for example.
iamgoingtoeatyou Thank you for visiting!
Frankie - Some thoughts in response to what you said about Atlanta and Augusta GA:
Charlotte, though, could also be classified under the "forest surrounded by downtown" approach from looking at it in the air - as could most postindustrial Southern cities that don't have large neighborhoods of row homes or six-family tenements could be - simply because downtown has grown so far and so fast that there is no traces of a true inner city.
(Compare that to Wellington, though, where I am attempting to create some inner-city areas. Sometimes I tend to think that I am not only recreating the South but also trying to rebuilt it to my own standard)
Digressing there. I would love to see how your industrial sprawl stuff comes out. I started work yesterday on a sprawly high-tech area about a mile from downtown where I'm trying to make the best use of what BATS I already have.
Pat - Thanks for two great comments. The interchanges in the Charlotte area, thouugh, are infinitely more complex than that one I showed. Anyone who has tried to connect to I-77 from I-85 knows what I mean. Being in the South for seven months, I was marveled by the dual simplicity and functionality of interchanges up in the North - here they are so complex...
I just wanted to get the comments out of the way for the time being. I currently have about five hand-drawn maps, all relating to Wellington, in line to be scanned. Update 15 will consist of those maps in context to the areas they represent.
-aaron
QuoteI currently have about five hand-drawn maps, all relating to Wellington, in line to be scanned. Update 15 will consist of those maps in context to the areas they represent.
***drooling already***
;)
Pretty good representation of small-town America here. Having travelled down 85 from NC to Atlanta countless times while going to school at Carolina, I am both interested to see this and get a little shudder at the thought of that damned road. I wonder is it still under interminable construction? The section that is 40 and 85 combined used to be a nightmare! :angrymore:
To make this truly realistic, you'd need some kind of reduced-capacity highways, combined with some of those traffic-generating lots and swarms of over-aggressive state troopers! For anyone who doesn't know, BE CAREFUL DRIVING THROUGH NORTH CAROLINA. They have a huge number of cops. I still notice driving around the south that if someone on the highway is going too slow in the left lane, there's a good chance the car will have NC plates - another terrorized North Carolinian that won't dare go more than 5 miles over the speed limit ::).
In fact, I was actually arrested and spent a night in jail in Mecklenberg County (Charlotte) going home to Georgia the summer after my freshman year, for going 80 in a 55. At the time (may still be), NC had a law that anyone from out of state caught going more than 15 mph over the speed limit had to actually be booked and released on bail, so as to guarantee their appearance at the court date. The cop had me drive myself (following him) to the Mecklenberg County Jail in downtown Charlotte and park in front of the building. They took mugshots and fingerprints, took my belt and shoelaces (presumably so I wouldn't hang myself $%Grinno$%) and threw my 19-year old butt in jail! You can imagine the "What are you in for?" conversations I had with my cell mates... :D
Whoa, I missed an update there. Sorry about that! That interchange you made looks great, as do the shots of Wellington. Can't wait to see those hand-drawn maps in the next update!
In total, I've made six hand-drawn maps of various areas of Wellington, four of which this update will focus on.
Two of them focus on US-11, one of the major arterial roads that cuts through Wellington and its metro area:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg238.imageshack.us%2Fimg238%2F7370%2F15a1zh4.jpg&hash=4066229c6035251e48ac1c45f7870ccb42c2c7bc)
15.1)
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US-11, though a 4-lane highway in more developed, older parts of Wellington, stretches to 6 lanes about two miles north and south of downtown. This map shows an area that's probably going to be three miles south of Downtown, where US-11 has a controlled-access crossing with a NC route.
15.2)
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Probably one if my favorite maps of this bunch. but besides the point there. About five miles north of downtown lies UNC's Wellington branch, a once-rural campus that has been since surrounded by both suburban bog-box development as well as quainter-style development (subsidized in part by the City of Wellington to help reduce automobile use among UNC-Wellington students) in the style of college towns like Chapel Hill.
As one can tell from the existence of the street "Greek Lane", frats are (unfortunately) king at UNC-Wellington. The institution is noted for having some of the lowest median SAT scores of the UNC sysyem - 470 reading, 490 math, 470 writing - and though SATs are not specifically the best predictor of college success, the low test scores do provide a peek insode the atmosphere of this school.
About a mile northwest of this intersection on US-11 (the 6-lane route) brings you to the Plaza at Norwood, one of the largest malls in North Carolina.
15.3)
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The interstate-grade highway is actually NC-311, a short highway that connects I-685 (Wellington's outer belt) with I-185 (a three-mile freeway that serves Downtown).
15.4)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg46.imageshack.us%2Fimg46%2F3621%2F15dgp7.jpg&hash=2be524b6093e2fa23da4ec1389bac6b18486b4c8)
SR-56 meets I-85. SR-56, though, has changed roads and is not "avenue" anymore, instead preferring the more stately "Wellington Road".
I have actually went ahead and built this area up in SC4, so that's where we're headed next update.
-aaron
[edited 4.21.07@1.30pm - The route number for the outer belt did not match that on the map on page 2]
Whew... I'm glad I'm not the only person who hand-draws maps for my cities. What picks my interest is whether or not you've developed (in SC) any of those maps. I'd like to see the result(s).
Either way, it gives us something to wait for. :)
Pickled_pig Wow!
awesome detail and thought put in to this md :thumbsup:
im in awe of the hand drawn maps
mark
Quote from: snorrelli on April 20, 2007, 10:47:42 AM
Pretty good representation of small-town America here. Having travelled down 85 from NC to Atlanta countless times while going to school at Carolina, I am both interested to see this and get a little shudder at the thought of that damned road. I wonder is it still under interminable construction? The section that is 40 and 85 combined used to be a nightmare! :angrymore:
To make this truly realistic, you'd need some kind of reduced-capacity highways, combined with some of those traffic-generating lots and swarms of over-aggressive state troopers! For anyone who doesn't know, BE CAREFUL DRIVING THROUGH NORTH CAROLINA. They have a huge number of cops. I still notice driving around the south that if someone on the highway is going too slow in the left lane, there's a good chance the car will have NC plates - another terrorized North Carolinian that won't dare go more than 5 miles over the speed limit ::).
In fact, I was actually arrested and spent a night in jail in Mecklenberg County (Charlotte) going home to Georgia the summer after my freshman year, for going 80 in a 55. At the time (may still be), NC had a law that anyone from out of state caught going more than 15 mph over the speed limit had to actually be booked and released on bail, so as to guarantee their appearance at the court date. The cop had me drive myself (following him) to the Mecklenberg County Jail in downtown Charlotte and park in front of the building. They took mugshots and fingerprints, took my belt and shoelaces (presumably so I wouldn't hang myself $%Grinno$%) and threw my 19-year old butt in jail! You can imagine the "What are you in for?" conversations I had with my cell mates... :D
I can fully relate to this story
snorelli. When I was in college (back in the early 80's) my parents lived in Winston-Salem. On my way back to TN (where I was a student at Tenn Tech Univ) I took a "short cut" to meet a friend and go camping. I passed a maroon Ford Grenada. Which turned out to be an un-marked state trooper. To make a long story short... 97 in a 55, Carrying a concealled weapon, evading the law, etc. A huge bond was posted (by me with my tuition money) and I spent 8+ hours as the guest of Silva County. Happy ending though. I got off with a $50 fine plus court cost. ($87 total) :-[
For years after that I wouldn't drive over the limit. Especially in Silva County. (And I lived for a number of years just in the next county.) LOL
moto of this story (and
snorelli's) =
Don't speed in North Carolina. :thumbsup:
---Gaston
LOL - We ought to be on retainer for the North Carolina State Patrol. I think our testimonials are a whole lot more effective than those "speed checked by detection devices" signs... :D
Yeah, they could post our pictures and say "Don't end up like these guys. Drive the Speed Limit!" LMAO
---Gaston
Aaron wonderfully hand drawn maps. I bet you had a blast drawing them maps too!!!
You never disappoint, my friend! The hand-drawn maps look fantastic! I can't wait to see them come to life.
Your handdrawn maps are wonderful: so much details in it. I wonder what you make first, the maps or the street-layout in SC4?
Just a peek at what I've been wasting my time on:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg168.imageshack.us%2Fimg168%2F2191%2Fmapdraftty0.jpg&hash=b399af8746fc12ef72476ec206e3d8662f6f9286)
A tentative layout of the arterials of Wellington. We'll probably return to this map a number of times as it nears completion.
-aaron
Hi Aaron-
Those are some really nice maps, and I can really appreciate the amount of time you're putting into planning the transportation networks. Wellington looks very nice, and I'm glad to hear about SR-56's renaming. Looking forward to seeing more of Wellington and of course, more roadgeekery ;)!
-Alex
Very nice maps, looks like you put a great deal of time and effort into it, wonderful job :thumbsup:
The map looks good! Can't wait to see more!
Looking good. I wish I had your map-making skills, mine are terrible. I can't wait to see the urban areas as well.
Will be watching for more. :)
Very good map. But a suggestion (since you use Photoshop), use the Path tool. It'll get rid of some of those 'jaggies'. What you do is select the Pen tool, make sure that it doesn't automatically draw shapes (just click one of the buttons in the toolbar, there's a variety of settings. It's towards the left-hand side) Then, once you've drawn your paths, just go over to your Brush tool, choose a brush size, then go back to the Paths menu and just Stroke the Path. Sit back and admire your handiwork. ;)
And of course, you're building great cities. You're one of those people who consistently prove that the road-geeky CJ still hasn't died out, and good job on that. :D
Nice map ;D Nice one. Jayo_goes_and_pours_chamoagne_all_over_his_head :thumbsup:
Quote from: pickled_pig on April 26, 2007, 02:43:53 PM
Just a peek at what I've been wasting my time on:
-aaron
Aaron if you call that a waste of time I sure hate to see what you consider a productive use of your time. Cause dang that is a intense map and great works - pat
Hey - hows it going? I felt the need to catch up on what I've been missing! I like your maps - especially your hand drawn ones. You didn't draw those during class now did you?! lol
Meinhosen - This next update's going to look at the area that I drew in the fourth map (15.4).
Mark - Thanks!
Gaston/Snorrelli - Interesting. I've no plans on getting a permit/licence while in NC anyway - even if I went for the test today, I wouldn't have a full licence until I was 18 years old. Anyway, I-40/I-95 is now an 8-lane highway. There's a ton of construction going on in Durham, but that's just I-85 with no multiplex. As well, there's a ton of construction in Salisbury NC, where I-85 is being widened from 4 to 8 lanes. I wouldn't know what it was, though - I've only been here for 8 or so months.
Pat - Yeah, it makes those pointless days in German class a bit more interesting. Often times when the class goes off on a political/sociopolitical tangent I have no knowledge on (such as school scandals, CMS administration policy, alcoholism) I start drawing.
Thundercrack/Sebes - Thanks! In response to your question, I draw the maps first, as it goves me a blueprint by which to plan in SC4.
Tarkus - I agree, we need more roadgeekery. Thanks!
Frankie/Thundercrack - Thanks for visiting!
Travis - Some of my maps from when I was in middle school are quite horrendous. I still have them, and perhaps I'll scan them in one day. As for the urban areas, it's about time for a downtown/West Side update looking at high density development in Greater Wellington.
Shadow_assassin - Thanks for the suggestion, as I do use Photoshop. I plan to redo the map as I develop the actual street network of Wellington, and perhaps then I'll try it in action.
Thanks for the bit about roadgeeky CJs (MDs?) not yet dying out. It's great as it captures precisely what I'm trying to do.
Jayo - Thanks for dropping by!
Pat - Good question there. Thanks!
Seemurray2 - Hey, long time no see! You've not missed much, actually - there have only been three real updates since I set up shop over here at SC4D. The MDing machine has slowed to near a grinding halt compared to what it used to be...
As for the maps, yes I did draw them at school. 15.2 and 15.3 came out of German class and 15.4 came out of pre-calculus class.
Which brings up an interesting story, but I'll save it in the name of brevity.
Anyway, here's the long-promised update:
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Great update, Aaron! I saw a Waffle House, which always reminds me of being in the southern United States. My favorite shot is the aerial one of Bel-Air at the end (Picture 16.6). The town looks absolutely fantastic. Keep up the good work, my friend!
That last overview shot blew me away! &apls
Managing all those diagonals must be really, really hard - and it flows so naturally. Great job!
Lots of hard work and planning in this one ... thanks for sharing.
wonderful pictures! great city! :thumbsup: &apls
Very impressive MD. It takes me back to a road trip in NC and TN about 7 years ago. I'm especially impressed with how you use your space: less is definitely more!
The prevalence of modern industry in the area really makes me think of areas in houston, particularly going up 290 near cy-fair
Excellent again &apls It's always a pleasure looking at the beauty of your road layouts!
Thanks, everyone, for the continued support. To briefly touch on a few issues that came up in the comments:
1) (in response to emilin) Working with diagnonals isn't difficut, per se, provided that you're working on relatively flat terrain, but it does bring its challenges, especially that of connecting streets to roads, as SC4 will not let you connect a street to a road changing direction
2) (in response to Zaphod) I've heard the same thing before about I-85 in Charlotte looking like Houston in a way, though I've always imagined that Texas highways are different from East Coast highways.
Anyway, thank you Thundercrack83, emilin, Colyn, bat, Stewart_garden, Zaphod and Sebes.
For the record, I'll be going to Pittsburgh, PA (link) (http://www.cmu.edu/enrollment/pre-college/apea.html) for six weeks this summer. To distill that into practical and understandable terms - at least for now - there will be no updates of "Travels Down I-85" this summer.
More info on what this is about later.
I believe SC4D, unlike Simtropolis, has a rule saying that any CJ not active for x amount of days will be deemed "closed". The thing is, though, even if I'm not here for that number x days, this CJ will in no way be "closed", as I plan to continue exactly where I left(will leave?) off on the 28th of June when I get back around the tenth of August.
This next update (Update 17) is going to continue to focus on NC-56 and another major (though unsigned) road, Renaissance Boulevard.
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Great update! I agree with Zaphod on how the industry near the highway kinda looks like Houston. Only major difference is the presence of feeder roads in Houston and not here. :P
Again, nice job, and it looks incredibly realistic.
Another great update, Aaron! I love your suburbs, they look very realistic, and the Carlisle High School looks outstanding! Also, I'm sorry to hear that there won't be any updates during the summer, but I hope you have a good time out in Pittsburgh! Take care, my friend!
More beautiful suburbs, Aaron. I really like the spaciousness too- But the realistic sprawl off the interstate just takes the cake. :thumbsup:
Sorry to hear you'll be away for the summer, hope you have a great time in PA- we'll be waiting for your return. :)
Later.
Your suburbs and the sprawl look fantastic. Picture 17.1 is probably the best example of what I like about your updates :thumbsup: Great job.
another great update! beautiful pictures!
Another beautiful update. I will be eagerly awaiting your return. Enjoy your summer!
Stewart
Thanks for the eye candy again!
Have a great Summer...
wow. missed the last 2 pages and the tail of the 2nd page. im glad i had the time to catch up with ur MD. very realistic touch, my friend. would love for some of that to rub off on me. i love the way you develop stuff and the interchange looks awesome!!!
Beautiful suburbia + a great presentation = awesome. ;) ;D
It's amazing ... I love your City &apls
I visited with attention the 5 pages of this topic ... And it's wonderful :thumbsup:
Excellent work ;)
*bump*
There has been a large update sitting on my hard drive for three weeks now. Seeing that I'm off to Pittsburgh on the 29th of this month, I can promise you that you'll see it before I go.
Will be back soon...
-aaron
Woohoo! I have been checking here every now and again. Looking forward to seeing the next instalment...
LoL about time Aaron, i will be awaiting to see the new update
Quote from: pickled_pig on June 17, 2007, 05:36:36 PM
*bump*
There has been a large update sitting on my hard drive for three weeks now. Seeing that I'm off to Pittsburgh on the 29th of this month, I can promise you that you'll see it before I go.
Will be back soon...
-aaron
Outstanding! I'll be waiting in eager anticipation, my friend!
...and a month later...
I'd like to thank everyone who either visited or commented here during this unexpected hiatus. I'm not doing individual replies today - most of the comments look rather general anyway.
Of course, because one hiatus isn't enough, I'm officially announcing a second. Though I won't be leaving for Pittsburgh until the 29th, I have not been playing any SimCity since this time last month, primarily because my computer tends to be unstable when I least want it to. I've lost a ton of potential work and had one city tile obliterated due to who knows what happening in savegame.
Besides the point there, though. If you want to hear whining, I'm certain you just turn on the TV or listen to the horrific sounds of the top 40 radio.
Anyway, here's the long-promised downtown update.
Update 18 - Downtown Wellington
Downtown Wellington is a medium-sized downtown whose architecture stylings, though they favor recent architecture seeing Wellington is a major city in the "New South", reflect all of the twentieth century. COmpared to other downtowns in New South cities, such as Charlotte and Atlanta, everything is built compact and parking is scarce, even with the number of city blocks that have been transformed from historic architecture into parking lots.
Wellington is surprisingly pedestrian-friendly. A current light and underground rail project is set to follow the US-11 corridor north from UNC-Wellington, going through downtown as an underground rail, and traveling south to an undetermined spot.
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Hope to see you back at Travels Down I-85 in August
-Aaron
That's a magnificent Downtown aaron- one of the most realistic I've seen. Great choice of BATs too.
Sorry to hear about your computer troubles, I know what you mean. I gave up the game for six months once, until I got a new computer. :)
I'll be looking forward to your return in August. :thumbsup:
Excellent downtown, my friend! I agree with Travis--it looks very realistic. The last picture that shows the whole city is my favorite one. Great update, I'll be looking forward to your return from my home state (the other side of it, but my home state, nonetheless)!
Well I looked over the whole MD just then and I love it!
You seem to come and go a lot regarding Sc4D... I hope when you get back you'll stay back for at least a week... :P
I read something about a light/undergroud rail project... sounds interesting! &apls
Can't wait for the next installment -- ()stsfd() wen
That is a wonderful downtown, pickled_pig! I also like the overview! Great work! :thumbsup:
Hi Aaron,
I really love the shot from a distance - it really captures the description at the top of the post. Looking forward to the light rail project.
Stewart
Excellent downtown ;)
And your overview is wonderful &apls
Aaron great update i loved the overview of downtown and the other shots we great
as well hope to see anther update soon - pat
Hey everyone...
I'm currently in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at Carnegie Mellon University (http://www.cmu.edu/index.shtml), enrolled in a pre-college (http://www.cmu.edu/enrollment/pre-college/) program.
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So basically, I'm subjecting myself to the intense beast that is the college experience a year before I actually go to college.
We have a wonderful campus and the urban setting is awe-inspiring after a year in the suburbs of Charlotte (a fake city if you ask me - no respectable downtown serves as a parking lot)
So that's going to be my main concern for the next six or so weeks.
-aaron
Hello to you, out there in Pittsburgh, Aaron! I hope all is well. I don't know if you're a baseball fan or not, but if you are, I'd highly recommend making a trip to PNC Park downtown as it is one of the most beautiful stadiums in all of the Major Leagues. Too bad the Pirates are a laughingstock. Anyway, enjoy your time in the Keystone State, and I'll be looking forward to seeing more of I-85!
Aaron be safe there you hear and i hope you have a blast there and take care - pat
Aaron, congratulations!
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...American suburbia at its very best...
n.b.: We know Aaron won't be back until the second week of August- plenty of time to get familiar with this great MD and look forward to what we're sure will be incredible updates following his return -DE
The Staff
Congratulations, Aaron! I'll definitely be looking forward to your return and what's going to be happening on I-85! Hope Pittsburgh is treating you well, my friend!
Aaron a time away and come back in August to find yourself in OSITM... congrats man!!! &apls :thumbsup:
btw welcome to pg 6 here Aaron... woohoo
Congrats for this award, Aaron! Looking forward to the next update...
Great to see one of my favourite MDs in OSITM.. Congratulations Aaron!
Stewart
Congratulations on the reward! I have to appologies for being a bit slow on commenting while looking at your stuff (I guess the word I'mlooking for is "lurking" ;D). It's hard, because you play the game in a very different fashion - unlike anyone I have seen. I look at it and go "ooohhh... that looks very advanced" but I really don't have the knowledge about traffic to give any qualified advice.
So, anyway: ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh.... that looks very advanced. And good! Keep it up!
&apls &apls &apls
Wow... This MD is one of favorites - and had my Special Interest already. Good choice David! Congratz Aaron &apls
Congrats Pickled-Pig &apls &apls
Good luck for the next :thumbsup:
Wow. I come take a quick peek at SC4D between other stuff - packing up my half of the dorm room; studying for the final for my linguistics class; summer reading assignment I have procrastinated on - and I see that my MD's been nominated "Of Special Interest" for August. To that I give thanks to David (he presented the honor) as well as everyone who's ever commented either here or at the Simtropolis version of Travels (which would be a lot of people, so no names).
Brief aside to Thundercrack here - I ended up seeing the Pirates play the Astros two weeks ago and I must admit that it was a very emotionally-loaded game for the fact that both Pittsburgh and Houston have second rate teams. The bottom of the ninth was quite climactic - the Pirates had men on first and third (I believe) and were losing by one point, and there was a lot of tension in the audience, who were practically screaming, for the Pirates to score that one run and tie the game.
...moving on...
Pittsburgh's a great city in that it's actually a city. Though from being in a college campus in a relatively university-geared section of town you don't get much of an idea of what the true grit of the city is - what your typical Pittsburgher is, basically. So on that there isn't much room to comment.
I've practically forgotten how to play SC4 up here so it'll be interesting to watch my relearn the ins and outs of the game and apply whatever new stuff has been created by the modding community.
I'll be down in NC again on the 11th - next saturday, basically - ready to transition into the next section of life, now that I can come close to saying "mission accomplished" in regards to this challenge.
-aaron
Welcome back, Aaron! I'm glad you got to a Pirates game, too! Last time I was there, they played Milwaukee and the Brewers weren't very good yet either, and that game went into extra innings. I'm also glad to hear that you're doing well with your schooling, too. I'll be looking forward to seeing your next update. Take care, my friend!
Aaron welcome back and hope to see an update soon and hope all is going well with the new lifestyle...
...and we're back on air...
I quickly assembled this picture set to keep this MD, well, alive. That means that we probably won't be looking at this area (the village of Rutherford and the area around it) in context with the Graham-Wellington MSA until next update (update 20... that's it?).
But until then, a bit of important info:
Rutherford (as it says in one of the pics) is a small farming village at the intersection of two (currently) back roads, which are named Raccoon Mills road and Pentecost Trail (how fitting...) Sometime in the '70s, to provided the necessary power any growing New South MSA needs to develop, a nuclear plant was built about a mile northwest of the village. Eventually, in the early '80s, US-174 was routed from its original route through Rutherford on Raccoon Mills Rd and Pentecost Tr onto a four-lane divided highway, so to provide better access to the nuclear plant and to provide a high speed connector with towns north of Graham.
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If it weren't for the power plant, this area would have flooded over with residential sprawl from cheap land and convenient access to the Graham-Wellington corridor. In the past five years, this area has developed into an industrial park.
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I like the forest, maybe it's good that there is the power plant, so at least the nature remains.. :-\
Sweet Aaron great update i loved it... Man i wouldnt want to be around if that plant did blow but at least there would be open land if it did lol
It's beautiful, very realistic :thumbsup:
Perhaps to fill the empty zones, for even more realism :P :thumbsup:
Great to see you back here Aaron and an awesome update.
I love your trees - sorry if you have already mentioned this, but how do you forest your cities?
Stewart
Wonderful update, Aaron! Great rural area! :thumbsup:
Very realistic journal you've created. One thing that stands out for me is how it is spread out, not every square has something on it, more like real cities and towns. Good job. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Whooaaah, pickled_pig. Long time, no talk. :)
I have to say--you're rural areas are quite amazing and nice use of the RHW. The trees are wonderfully placed and there's a sense of openness with the farms and surrounding neighborhoods.
I'll be stopping by more often.
Yes, more rural North Carolina! It's great to see you back, Aaron.
David
Urban - Good point - but, as Pat says, who'd want to be there when the plant melts down? I imagine that the people who live in the few houses within a kilometer's radius got well compensated. Thanks!
Pat - Yeah, but imagine the environmental disaster that would create. Thanks for commenting!
Snaper - Empty zones... could you elaborate? Are you referring to something in this last update (#19) or something in a previous update or region pic? Thanks for dropping by!
stewart_garden I forest them with lots of time and patience. I use a combination of Jeronij's, Pegasus', and Cycledogg's trees, foresting one type of tree after the next. It can take a couple hours to do half a city tile - certainly there must be a quicker way to do it but I don't have that sort of Lot Editor/Prop skills.
Bat - Thanks for dropping by here!
amapper - Good point there. Except for in the Midwest of the U.S., things aren't regular every set number of miles or kilometers.
Eddie - Yeah, I've not heard from you in forever... perhaps because I'm not on ST anymore and barely even here? Thanks for commenting here!
David - Thanks!
Anyway, I figure I can get in two updates before school starts... and then I'll be on pseudo-hiatus.
In other words, after school starts on the 27th, I can't predict whether there will be any more updates for the next four or so weeks. TO predict such things requires actual, non-anecdotal knowledge of what the year is asking for. The year could be asking of nothing and classes could be easy. Conversely, things could be the other way around - I don't know.
These three pictures are from a work in progress, the town of Oilton.
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-aaron
Interesting update. Can we get some pics of the cemetery? Other than that great work.
Robin :thumbsup:
Quote...perhaps because I'm not on ST anymore and barely even here?
I'm barely on here either, so that can account for it. Now on to analyzing the new update:
-Curved avenue is used realistically (that should look good in region view).
-Nice work on the highschool. Schools have yards! Not enough CJers put the effort into adding accessories in their educational structures. You, however, have included an open grass area, soccer field, baseball field...etc. It looks great (though unfinished).
-Love those middle-wealth maxis residential homes as well. One of the few default maxis buildings I like to play with. It's perfect for suburban/rural neighborhoods.
-Excellent placement of trees.
Well, that's all for today. :thumbsup:
Oilton looks fantastic, my friend! It looks very realistic. I'll be looking forward to see more of your work!
LoL Aaron a great update on Oilton :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
The town of Oilton is looking fantastic! Great pictures! :thumbsup:
I love you MD! It's very American-ish looking in a realistic way... from what I can see on GE and on TV, since I have never been to the US my self... :)
take care,
Hey everyone:
Some more pics of Oilton (including some more detail on the high school and cemetery):
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I had a bit more completely unrelated to MDing that was supposed to tack onto this update but decided it was a bit too irrelevant. C'est la Vie.
-aaron
Aaron either way a great update imho... that is one massive cementary too
Great updates Aaron, you are one of the best when it comes to suburban development/sprawl. Although I'd hate to be the janitor that has to stay late at the high school, since it's across from a cemetery...
-- John
The cemetary looks greate :)
Wonderful looking new pictures of Oilton! Looking forward to more...
Very nice update. The Wittgenstein High School looks really, really good. :thumbsup:
I'm taking an Advanced Placement [link] (http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/about.html) course in Human Geography over in real life at the moment...
...we were just issued our textbooks today. I skimmed through it between reading sessions this afternoon and noticed that there were a wealth of rather interesting maps throughout. Supposedly we're going to have to make maps somewhere in the course and we're going to do a couple of units on urban development.
How fitting. It should be interesting to see whether the formal education on urbanization - the ivory tower theories, to speak in that vernacular - will get incorporated into the casual pursuit of MDing.
And quickly to shout out to Dfire870 - someone's got to do the job! Any takers :)?
There's no update in the pipeline in the near future. I have to finish Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, write to the same damned essay prompt I had to write to this time last year, and (yes, this is my assignment ()what()) decorate one of my binders to "reflect my personality". Good God.
I'll see you back in the Classics section
-aaron
QuoteI have to finish Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, write to the same damned essay prompt I had to write to this time last year, and (yes, this is my assignment ) decorate one of my binders to "reflect my personality". Good God.
You've now thoroughly convinced me never to go to school in North Carolina. :D
On my end, I've got to finish a one-paragraph book report. $%Grinno$%
Anyway- looking forward to that update, but take your time. It's only after running an MD for 6 months that I can really appreciate and understand all the hard work that goes into this. ;)
Thank you for migrating over here to SC4D. I enjoyed your CJ at ST, but since I only use ST for dl's and stay away from the forums, I've missed good CJ's like this one. I love how your MD really does represent the South, and realistically at that. Sometimes it is like looking at SC4 renditions of towns here in Kentucky. Great job!!
Quote from: Travis on August 30, 2007, 03:39:05 PM
You've now thoroughly convinced me never to go to school in North Carolina.
lol, I quite enjoyed schooling while I lived in North Carolina. I lived in a town of less than 1,000 people, far from any sprawling metropolis. (well Asheville was about 70 miles west of it..if that counts). Talk about small classes, lol.
Anyway, I'm loving the MD! Always great to come back and see more amazing screenshots :thumbsup: I suppose it really takes someone from elsewhere to notice all the details. (maybe that's why I never can think of what to add to my own MD screenies)
Travis - One paragraph book report - you're lucky! I have an essay test on my summer reading in two days... and I haven't written a critical literary essay in about 14-15 months! As for going to school in NC - it's a joke. My school's on the Newsweek rankings and they're pretty much obsessed with nothing but standardized test scores and unless you get good teachers you're pretty much getting a cram-for-the-test education.
ryalmighty1 - Thanks for coming by our SC4D home and commenting, especially seeing the ST version of this MD has been abandoned since April. I've never been to Kentucky - I'm mostly going by midsized North Carolina towns I've visited (such as Gastonia, Monroe, Shelby) and satellite pics from Google Earth for an overall idea of the landscape.
Frankie - A small class at my school has 25 students. Talk about everything being relative to each other. I can see where you're going with the "elsewhere" part - growing up in a place you take your landscape and geography and cityscapes for granted and forget what's different or unique about a place.
You do an excellent job capturing the South too, so don't downplay yourself.
Thanks everyone for visiting over the past few days. You're going to have to hang on for a moment as I prepare the next update, which is probably going to be a map update, where we're going to look at some hand-drawn maps and region overviews to see where we've gone and what's next.
I also want to go back to Graham and do some stats on the city. I mapped out the school system a while back - perhaps that will be another map update...?
Until then, here's a teaser. We're slowly going to go back into roadgeek mode and we'll probably be seeing some Kurumi Signmaker in use soon.
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As for where US-174 goes, we'll be taking a look at that in the map update. We saw a bit of US-174 back in update 19 and way back in update 13 and we'll be seeing it a bit more as the region gets developed.
-aaron
Quote from: pickled_pig on September 02, 2007, 07:18:14 PM
Frankie - A small class at my school has 25 students. Talk about everything being relative to each other. I can see where you're going with the "elsewhere" part - growing up in a place you take your landscape and geography and cityscapes for granted and forget what's different or unique about a place.
You do an excellent job capturing the South too, so don't downplay yourself.
Small classes at my school are rare, maybe even non-existent. There are just so many new students that there isn't enough room. When I moved up to the Upstate last year, I had to go to three different schools who all had to turn me down because there was simply no space. The one that finally took me in is nearly 20 miles from my house. It is hands down the worst school in the county, and only the core classes are offered, hardly any extras. This really hampers my options, since at my old school I took 3 years of architectural design all went to waste because the credits didn't transfer.
I remember when I was younger, our trailer washed away in AL, so we moved to NC, it seemed like a totally different world, with trees that change colors with the seasons! (It was my first time seeing something other than evergreens, so you can imagine that i was quite excited when fall came around, lol). So maybe there is significant region differences in the South..
My observation is this; North Carolina tends to be extremely spread out. Kind of like a rubber band...well..that was a bad example. Anyways, the upstate of SC is the same way, with massive amounts of suburbs spread over several square miles. However, in the Low Country it is much more rural with the effects of sprawl holding tight to the Interstate and rarely gets out of the city limits. (which is a good thing, achieved by strict zoning laws). AL and GA (with the exception of Atlanta) are totally different. But it's rather difficult to explain without comparison pictures..
Anyway I'll get off my rant, and say that you have done a great job with this MD. I like where you have gone with it, and you have improved quite a bit since I originally began posting on it, great job! :thumbsup:
P.S. I requested that my MD be moved to the completed section. I wish to restart for organizational purposes (and so i don't hit my bandwidth limit on photobucket again...). In my honest opinion, I think that my MD still lacks detail..it always seems like I'm missing something.
Aaron that teaser shot is nice, very country feeling to it and Frankie that had to suck going to school only offering basic classes uggh....
Love the teaser, my friend! I'm sufficiently teased and looking forward to the next update!
Wonderful teaser! Looking forward to more... ;)
Frankie - Only core classes? Does your school offer only one level of stuff or do you at least have honors, advanced, and AP?
My school doesn't have that much for actual electives: almost everything outside of the core is part of a career path (photography, cooking, medical technology, business) or IB path (IB Philosophy, TOK, etc...). Interesting.
Perhaps you're missing urban areas, inner city areas, stuff like that? I don't know.
Anyway, thanks for the rant (it was enlightening to read!) and good luck with any new MD projects.
Everyone else - As always, thanks for your regular support.
I promised a map last time around...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg101.imageshack.us%2Fimg101%2F8919%2F21mapbx6.jpg&hash=a2f8a1f3a23f0df4472be0c9b35cb3157a91db4d)
And here it is. We'll be working from this map for a while as well as any street detail hand drawn maps that I can manage to make in German class (I started one today while waiting for the rest of the class to finish an assignment involving reading a German newspaper article and using the language we know to get the main ideas and simultaneously holding a conversation about God-knows-what...).
I think there will be far less method to the madness now that we're working from some good source material. I say nothing on whether updates will be regular, though.
There are a few holes on this map - notably, the route numbers and exit numbers. We'll be fixing those as we progress in development.
This update will focus on the interchange in the top left of the map - of I-85 with US-174. It's actually a very interesting one, as it serves a major cigarette research and manufacturing campus (one indicator that you know you're in the South)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg67.imageshack.us%2Fimg67%2F4343%2F21aur5.jpg&hash=8f425524436097e736ae22cc2d022ccb362779e8)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg526.imageshack.us%2Fimg526%2F8923%2F21bwb4.jpg&hash=be84714e56afc5abbdf286045e53dda12ba89d2b)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg526.imageshack.us%2Fimg526%2F9346%2F21cmk0.jpg&hash=2823b950fcc0aaadad01d6dc1cf9ed51e87d3ff5)
I think we still need to look at things within the big picture, though (i.e. annotated region map?). For now, note that we're about halfway between downtown Graham and downtown Wellington - about seven to ten miles from both. The Graham Center Mall (see the "best-of" updates on page 1) is two miles northwest. Oilton (see update 20) is two miles north.
-aaron
Good pics- I like the choice of buildings surrounding that interchange, speaking of which, is very well made. One thing to note though,
your overpass ramps seem to be a bit steep in some spots, particularly the "on-slope" pieces. That's note really your fault; real-life overpasses
almost never have 45 feet of clearance, unless it's a flyover ramp. All in all though, good work. :thumbsup:
PS: I've always like those green caption boxes at the bottom of the picture- mind if I ask how you do that in photoshop? ;)
Another splendid update, my friend! I've probably mentioned it before, but I love your hand-drawn maps. It's like watching the idea in your head come to life in the game. Keep up the excellent work!
Great map and wonderful pictures! Fantastic work! :thumbsup:
Quote from: Travis on September 07, 2007, 03:01:33 PM
PS: I've always like those green caption boxes at the bottom of the picture- mind if I ask how you do that in photoshop? ;)
Ask and ye shall recieve :)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg50.imageshack.us%2Fimg50%2F9214%2Fphotoshoptutorialqp5.jpg&hash=851221167bcdc228ff7738bc379b1c5fb8a41d1d)
The simcity pic, by the way, is from my prior CJ on Simtropolis, Winston County, which was a recreation of a typical Southern New England (specifically Connecticut)/New York area city.
-aaron
Thanks for the tutorial, it will come in handy. :) By the way, what version of photoshop do you have? Looks a lot different than mine. ;)
Travis: It's Photoshop 6. I've had it for almost forever...
For this update we're going to be looking at Virgil Parkway on the map.
As some people might notice, these pics have been up on Simtropolis for two days. I'm trying to get into the habit of keeping the journal up-to-date on both forums - Travels has been stagnant on ST for too long.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg206.imageshack.us%2Fimg206%2F1503%2F22atq7.jpg&hash=22620402d4332b06c12bf651c9de9307bccefe37)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg213.imageshack.us%2Fimg213%2F9667%2F22blx6.jpg&hash=97548fcc9ceeae2c92488fc6137f268f258f2923)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg211.imageshack.us%2Fimg211%2F9414%2F22cqw0.jpg&hash=1984b82850c4fabedfeeacc3bca09007169fca0a)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg517.imageshack.us%2Fimg517%2F3230%2F22dmk0.jpg&hash=dfb856d0d5a78431effd3701e7661ec31725428d)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg510.imageshack.us%2Fimg510%2F7834%2F22efp3.jpg&hash=7157c660e64f5a86dcb24b340b725f7ac8c3267c)
As for next update, we'll be looking at the development where Salisbury road intersects with Newman Parkway on the map - where that interchange between two full-access roads is. A sort of edge city has blossomed up there that looks like nothing I've seen in the South.
The area we'll be seeing next time reminds me a lot of somewhere on the Southern tip of the BosWash megalopolis; in Delaware or Southern Maryland or Northern Virginia as opposed to somewhere on the I-85 corridor. Someone commented over on the ST version that Travels looks like "a lot of upstate New York towns". It's definitely interesting - is there some sort of homesickness for the North seeping in to the CJing/MDing?
-aaron
Fantastic update and great area near the lake! :thumbsup:
really "greeny but not Ecologic" urban sprawl love it ( the pond is a nice addition to the suburbs) and love the way the road and route are layout-ed !! (giving inspiration !)
Love the update and the Photoshop tutorial, Aaron! Great work! Your small towns are always a pleasure to view!
Quote from: pickled_pig on September 15, 2007, 06:43:12 PM
is there some sort of homesickness for the North seeping in to the CJing/MDing?
Dunno about that. I've seen enough of the North that getting a little bit of the South is a welcome change of pace... even if that little bit happens to be the SC4 variety.
Great work, Aaron. Impressive, as always... especially your suburbs. :thumbsup:
Haven't checked up on travels for a while! Looking great! I can't wait to see the region when it is complete... ;D